Improvement in three-way balanced stop-valves



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

i JOSEPHVM. LOOKE, on OINOINNATI, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT |N THREE-WAY BALANcED sToP-vALvEs.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 173,653, dated February 1.5, 1876; application filed i May 21, 1874.

To all inihom it mag/,concern v Be it known that I, JOSEPH M. LO'CKE, of Cincinnati, Hamilton county, Ohio, have invented a new and useful Cock for Hydraulic A Elevators, of which the following is a specifiupward or downward motion or stoppage at any desired level, without such nice attention or manipulation as would be difficult or impossible'to an ordinary operator, and without such sudden arrest or resumption of the dow as would'endanger the walls of the conduits. In the accompanying drawing, Figures 1, 2, and 3 are axial sections, representing 4the apparatus in the respective conditions of supply, of closure, and of obstructed or slow discharge. 4 Inasmuch as myimprovemcnts relate wholly to thel cock or valve proper, the specifications will be lrestricted to this member. 4

P represents a supply and discharge chamber, which has, on one side of it, a servicepipe or passa ge, C, that affordspermancnt communication with the hydraulic motor or other engine to be impelled. The said chamber P communicates, at opposite ends, with two coaxial pipes, Q and L, of which the pipe Q receives, at one side of it, the inlet-passage A, and has a tubular prolongation, J, which enters the chamber P. The' edge of this prolongation J has one or more 4scallops or indentations, which, narrowing inwardly, as at j, constitute graduated openings. The pipe Q has two cuppackings, of which Vthe innermost one R is. placed'at the junction-of the prolongation J- with the lower end of the said pipe Q, and constitutes the seat of the inlet-valve, while the other packing R' occupies the outermost ex. tremity of the said pipe, and incloses the balancing-piston to be presently described. The pipe L is ground out interiorly to form a true and smooth cylindrical pocket for my discharge-valve, hereinafter described. The operating-rod T terminates iu a plunger, N O F M H, which consists of a long cylindrical piston, N, called the balancing-piston, whose inner end is, by means of rod-0, connected to convex valve F, which constitutes my inletvalve proper, and which is prolonged downward so as to form a cylinder, M. Said valve F and cylindrical prolongation M enter and play within the packing R, which therefore serves as the inlet-valve seat. The said cylindrical prolongation M is, near its lower end, encircled by my packing and discharge-valve S, formed A,of some yielding and impervious material, such as .india-rubber or leather, and

of such dimensions as to be capable of filling the discharge-pipe L. The cylinder M is prolonged below the packing-valve S, and has 011e or more notches, h, that are similar in form. and function to the notches j of thetubular= prolongation J. The tubular prolongation J and the pipe L.are interiorly of slightly greaterl diameter than the cylinder .M. The distance between the valv'es F an'd S, or, in other words, the length ofthe cylindrical porn tion M, so much exceeds that of the chamber l? as to secure a sustained or sensible duration, respectively, of the receiving, the closed, and the discharging conditions of 4the apparatus, so as to render unnecessary such nice movement of the operating-rod T as' would become needful were the interval between the supply andthe discharge only momentary or of but inappreciable duration. ln the above arrangement the hemispherical member F constitutes, as before stated, the inlet-valve, the packing constituting its seat and the cylinder F and tube J constituting prolongations of the said valve and seat, respectively. S and the upper extremity E ot' the pipe L constiiute, respectively, the outlet-valve and seat, of which H and L constitute the respective prolongations. All those prolongations are in the'direction of the low. The soft or yielding packings R and S, being so arranged aud secured relatively to the indented portions J and H that they can, by no possibility, come in contact with them, are free..

from liability to become torn or mutilated, as they would be were they subject to attrition with said indented portions.

The operation is as follows,l the apparatus being supposed closed, as in' Fig. 2: Shouldv it now be desired to elevate the platform, the

rod T is depressed until the convex portion F of the plunger, by receding from its seat R into the indented prolongation J, Ybegins/to Again, the ring admit water to the engine, very slowly at first, and subsequently in greater abundance until fully open. All this time, occupation of the pipe L, by the packing-valve S, eifectnally closes the discharge so as to prevent any escape of water from the engine. If now it be desired to, bringthe platformv to rest, it is merely necessary to reverse the rod so as to restore the parts to the position shown in Fig. 2. In passing to the closed condition. the indented prolongation J again becomes useful by compelling the closure to take place gradually, and to thus avoid such abruptk suspen-v sion of the ow as would create water-ram, and endanger the pipes. lie-entrance of the val\ e l?l to the seat ltuinally operates to'shut oli' the supply, and this without opening thel discharge-passage L, even if theoperator do i not succeed in stopping` the rodat the precise central position. If, on the other hand, the operator seeks to lower the platform, he has but to elevate the rod T until, the narrow inner extremities ofthe indentations h beginningto emerge from the pipe L, the'water begins, very gradually, to escape into said pipe, and subsequently escapes more rapidly, should the plunger be further elevated. By this means the operator is enabledto let downV a heavilyloaded platform with perfect security, or a lighter one with any desired speed, which can be checked or reversed in a moment without danger to the containing passages, the indented prolongationspreventing any suchv violent or abrupt check tothe inertia of the hydraulic column as would be liable to rupture the pipes, no matter how quickly the rod may be operated. An internal downward tlareof the tubular prolongation J, and a downward taper of the prolongation H, may be substituted for the indentationsj and h in some situations, or the purpose lnay be accomplished by oblique terminations of said prolongations. It is manifest that the valve F, and the balancepiston N, being at all times subject to equal and Qpp'osing pressures in all conditions of the apparatus, and'the same equality or balance of pressure taking place on the other parts of thev plunger, prevents any movement thereof independently of the impulsesimparted by the Y operating rod T, and renders theisaid plunger of easy movement or detention by means of -said rod.

I lay no claim to graduated valve-openings, broadly, nor to any specific form thereof, apart from my special combination with soft or yielding packing without contact, as hereinbefore set forth.

, In the accompanying illustration of my invention the parts are so situated as to present the flow downward, but itis evident that the apparatusmight be so placed as to discharge upward or laterally but in whatever direction the discharge takes place it is essential that the prolongations H and J bein the same direction.

My device, although specially designed for hydraulic elevators, is obviously applicable to those driven by the agency of steam or other fluid, and it may be used in connection with Vother enginesr than those employed for lifting.

I claim as new and my inventionl. The chamber I), having on opposite sides cfa-,permanentservice passage, G, two other passages, Q and L, having a comlnon axis and terminating at said chamber in seats It and E, for supply` and discharge valves F and S,

'whose distaneevapart is greaterthan that of said seats, said supply-valve and dischargeseatbeing prolonged in direction of the flow, so as -to permit independent control of the supply and discharge, and their separation by a period ot' complete closure,` substantially as and for the objects designated.

2. The: tubular projection J, cylinder M, having graduations j and 7L, packing R, and packing-valves S, arranged to operate without attrition fromeach other, substantially as specified.

3. In combination with the duplex-valve l plunger-and the three-way passage, substantially as described, I claim: the balancingpistonA N, adapted to operate asset forth.

JOSEPH M. LOCKE.

1 Witnesses: i

SAMUEL DAY, JAS. MORRIS. 

